Pawsitivity Service Dogs is a non-profit organization located in St. Paul, MN, dedicated to providing service dogs for adults and children with psychiatric and developmental disabilities so they may benefit from the loyalty, friendship, and independence their Service Dogs provide. Each situation is different, so Pawsitivity individually selects and trains each dog specifically for the needs and circumstances of the person with a disability, to encourage independence, mobility, and a loving, therapeutic bond.

First of all, what is a Service Dog?

The definition is controlled by a federal law named the Americans with Disabilities Act (the ADA). The law was revised on July 6th, 2011, and it basically states that a Service Dog is individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities. Service Dogs must pass rigorous certification tests to ensure that they can go into work, restaurants, stores, churches, hospitals and be specifically trained for the person with a disability.

Why a Service Dog?

We train three types of Service Dogs:

• Autism Service Dogs
• Psychiatric Service Dogs
    A Service Dog can be appropriate for major depression, severe anxiety, panic attacks, agoraphobia, bipolar disorder, social phobias, PTSD, and OCD.
• Seizure Dogs
  

What other benefits does a Service Dog help with?

• Having a disability is tough - on the person and on their family. Whether it is trouble with speaking or trouble interacting with others, a Service Dog helps with isolation of the handler. People are usually incredibly curious about Service Dogs, asking lots of questions, and this interaction really helps with isolation. In the case of autism, sometimes the family is a beneficiary of these interactions, too, because with a Service Dog, the dog's calming influence makes family outings possible.
  
• Walking the dog gets one out moving in the community, too. Whether going to school or work or the mall, it's really nice when people don't just see a person as different, but rather, there's an excuse to talk to them. Once people are talking, they can make friends.

• Even without Major Depression, depression can still hit simply because it's so difficult to live with a disability. Getting out and about with a Service Dog reduces isolation, increases exercise, and can really help with depression and anxiety.
• Not only can a Service Dog help the handler meet other people, just having the dog in one's life means having a friend by one's side, 24 hours a day. Not only is the Service Dog helping the handler directly, but also, they're always there, focusing on their handler, all day and every day. Some autistic children, for instance, may not have brothers and sisters and neighbors to play with. But the child has a dog that needs them, not just for food and walks, but for companionship, and it can be incredibly nice to always have their Service Dog to share experiences with.

• It's easy to inadvertently turn inward and focus on one's own problems, spending too much time obsessing about these negative things. Having a Service Dog that brings in outside stimulation can help. A Service Dog needs and loves the handler, and their affection continually brings the handler out of their inward thoughts - this new outward focus helps keep the handler living in the moment and thus, happier in their day-to-day life.

How helpful is a Service Dog?

• Allen and Blascovich, Journal of the AMA (1996) conducted the only published randomized controlled trial assessing the impact of service dogs and reported "dramatic improvements in many life areas were found following placement of a service dog. Areas in which improvements were observed included self-esteem, internal locus of control, community integration, and increased need for paid and unpaid assistance. Participation in school and work also increased."
• "Their general health had improved since obtaining a service dog." Lane, D., McNicholas, J., & Collis, G., 1998, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 59(1-3), 49-60.
  
• In a study by Valentine, D.P., Kiddoo, M., & LaFleur, B, in Social Work in Health Care (1993) of adults with service dogs, participants reported feeling more independent (90%), having higher self-esteem (80%), being more content *80%), and more assertive (80%). Individuals with service dogs reported positive improvements in their social functioning, with 100% reporting "more people approached me" and 87% reporting "my social interactions have increased".

• "Consistent with the great majority of other literature on assistance dogs, assessments across a diverse range of areas confirmed the positive impact of the the service dogs on the lives of these individuals."
• "Their (the handlers') positive expectations were commensurate with their actual experience once the dog had been placed with them and they had several months of experience working with the dog."
• "Furthermore, participants rated their satisfaction with their dogs as very high, on average".
• Life improvement areas improved after placement of a service dog included "number of friends, self-esteem, physical fitness, leisure activities, happiness, assertiveness, job performance, and acceptance of disability." Also, "their social approachability had improved dramatically after the placement of a service dog".
• Using a standardized quantitative measure, self-esteem indicated significant improvement from before to after placement of the service dog.
• "Importantly, participants also reported benefits to their family and caregivers. Individuals with disabilities often need both paid and unpaid assistance from caregivers. Unpaid assistance often comes from family members, pacing some degree of burden on the family care-givers. Reduction in the time needed for care-giving can have a positive impact on the overall functioning of the family and positively affect both the individual with a disability as well as other family members."